Gattis' grand slam leads Braves past Twins 8-3

The Twins dropped their eighth in a row, losing to the Atlanta Braves 8-3 on Wednesday, and immediately demoted Worley to the minors after another dismal outing.

The right-hander gave up three homers, including Evan Gattis’ grand slam, and left after just 3 Xc innings. Worley’s record dropped to 1-5 and his ERA climbed to 7.21.

“The ball was coming out of his hand pretty good,” manager Ron Gardenhire said. “But ultimately, he misfires too much over the plate and you see the ball flying. And that’s what happened today. When he gets the ball up, they whack it pretty good.”

Ramiro Pena and B.J. Upton also homered for the Braves before Gattis finished off Worley, swinging away on a 3-0 pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth. The opposite-field drive landed just inside the right-field pole for the rookie’s 10th homer of an improbable debut season.

The Twins haven’t been good at much of anything lately. The offense has produced only 22 runs during the losing streak, an average of less than three per game. But the starting pitching has been the big problem all season, lasting fewer innings per outing than every rotation except Houston’s.

In Atlanta, the Twins’ three starters combined to give up 15 runs in 9 Xc innings.

“We need performances,” Gardenhire said. “We needed (Worley) to step up. It didn’t work out. He needs to go down and get going.”

Gattis, on the other hand, is on quite a roll.

So are the first-place Braves, who completed their second straight series sweep with their sixth victory in a row.

“I love this team,” Gattis said. “We all contribute, we’ve all got roles, we’ve all got things we do to help this team. It’s a good feeling right now in the clubhouse. We’re playing good baseball.”